According to the current state of planning, Lauda Europe will deploy a “maximum of 11 aircraft” in the summer of 2021. According to company boss David O'Brien, the remaining machines will remain parked at London Stansted Airport. The carrier expects that travel restrictions will exist in the summer of 2021 and that demand will therefore initially be low.

For Vienna are “four to a maximum of five” Airbus A320s intended. From Palma de Mallorca, “a maximum of four” planes should fly and Lauda Europe also hopes that the Zadar base can take off with two A320s. However, the opening in the Croatian city depends on further developments in terms of entry and quarantine regulations.

Lauda Europe boss David O'Brien makes no secret of the fact that he is quite angry about the fact that no uniform travel regulations have been created at EU level or that these are ignored and undermined by countries like Germany. This has a problematic effect on planning for summer 2021, because there is currently no clear perspective. The Lauda Europe and Malta Air managing directors suspect that some governments could also apply tough restrictions in the summer. This would then be the worst case scenario for the entire aviation industry, because some airlines would no longer be able to cope with another “quasi-total failure” of the summer business.

I don't understand why the UK can vaccinate quickly, but the EU cannot

“It is incomprehensible that vaccinations are going so slowly in the European Union and at the same time vaccination can be rapid in the UK. It's unacceptable, ”said Irish-born O'Brien. “Given the slow pace, we have legitimate concerns that the summer business will be very difficult this year as well. The first governments are already giving signals that travel restrictions should remain in place during the holiday season ”:

In the eyes of the manager, the situation in Austria is also affected by the Minimum price plan by Transport Minister Leonore Gewessler (Green) difficult. O'Brien assumes that the current draft contradicts EU law, but there is a risk that Austria could negotiate a solution with Brussels. “This minister must understand that it is the wrong way to fly to Austria with half-empty planes and change there. Such passengers do not pay any ticket tax in Austria because they are exempt from it, ”said the manager. “The problem is that the Austrian government does not recognize that hub-and-spoke is more harmful to the climate than non-stop. All aviation in Austria is geared towards changing trains in Frankfurt and Munich and is therefore dependent on Germany ”.

"Minister of Transport must understand the facts"

As O'Brien further explained to Aviation Direct, in his role as Managing Director of Lauda Europe he also turned to Federal Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (ÖVP), Commission Vice-President Margrethe Vestager and Transport Commissioner Adina Vălean. In a present letter he wrote to Kurz, among other things: "Your minimum price proposal violates EU regulation 1008/2008, according to which" Community air carriers ... must freely set their tariffs and freight rates for intra-European air services ... ". Austria's illegal proposal is anti-consumer, will delay Austria's recovery after Covid and damage the environment. It is no coincidence that the countries in which the Lufthansa Group dominates have increased the prospect of minimum prices, which amounts to setting prices. The Austrian government is not only proposing to deny EU carriers the freedom to charge prices, but you have also denied Vienna Airport the same right, namely to lower the fees, in order to hinder AUA competitors from both a sales and a cost perspective . It is absurd and dishonest to call minimum prices "environmentally friendly". The Lufthansa Hub & Spoke system, which is promoted and protected by Austria (in which passengers undertake four flights for a return trip), is the most environmentally harmful air travel model of all. Vienna is particularly exposed to reduced AUA long-haul direct flights as the Lufthansa Group is downgrading connections via Vienna in order to strengthen its strategic long-haul hubs in Frankfurt and Munich. The future of sustainable aviation lies in high frequency, point-to-point, region-to-region services on short and long haul routes with a reduction in the volume and importance of hub airports and the connection of traffic. We urge your government to abandon your proposal to set unlawful and anti-consumer prices and instead take the following measures to promote a rapid recovery in traffic after Covid and sustainable aviation in Austria and to reduce your dependence on a German airline ”.

Compared to Aviation Direct, the Lauda Europe boss added: “The Minister of Transport must respect the facts”. He considers the increase in the flight tax on short-haul routes and the simultaneous reduction on long-haul routes to be an indirect help for Austrian Airlines and once again pointed out that transfer passengers are not taxed at all. “They leave carbon dioxide behind in Austria, but don't pay a cent for it,” says O'Brien.

No terminations in the short term, not excluded in the long term

To be addressed Friday's circular, which indicates that numerous jobs at the Vienna location are at risk, as only a maximum of five machines are used, said the Lauda manager: “We are not planning any short-term job cuts, provided we can keep costs low because we hope that demand will pick up again in the course of 2021. The longer it takes, the harder it gets. It is also difficult to compete with carriers like Austrian Airlines, which were supplied with almost 600 million euros by the Austrian state, and at the same time to be confronted with higher ticket taxes and minimum prices ”.

He also emphasized that one is in talks with Ryanair that Lauda Europe could get additional flight orders within the group. According to O'Brien, there are currently “a maximum of three to four aircraft per week” in service from Vienna. The emphasis is on “maximum”, because due to the entry and quarantine regulations of the various countries, the demand continues to decline. When asked where the machines that are currently not scheduled for Vienna, Palma and Zadar for the summer of 2021 will be used, the manager said: “Nowhere. They stay parked. There is no point in flying if people cannot enter or have to be in quarantine for a long time. When there is no demand, the machines stay parked in Stansted ”. On the fact that those Lauda employees who over Crewlink are employed, are on short-time work, O'Brien did not come in.

High fees dampen possible recovery

As mentioned earlier, David O'Brien is very concerned about the slow pace of vaccination in the EU. Asked about the fact that London Heathrow Airport recently had a Special levy The Lauda boss said: “Fortunately, we're not going to fly there, but if this approach catches on, then smaller airports will have a big problem. The airlines then withdraw traffic. Large airports are also not excluded ”.

In Austria, O'Brien sees the cost increases as an obstacle to the recovery of the industry, pointing out that the fees are set by the government. This would give aviation hardly any room to survive and, apart from Austrian Airlines, hardly provide any help. Confronted with the fact that Vienna Airport has applied for the landing fees to be reduced to zero for 2020, O'Brien said: “This is a drop in the ocean because very little has been flown. The passenger charge is very high in Vienna and is designed for low occupancy rates. The airport and the government must force fees that are designed for high load factors. Half-empty planes have a worse carbon footprint than full planes ”.

Alluding to the fact that the competitor Wizzair at the last aviation summit was there, but Lauda Europe was not, O'Brien wrote in his letter to Federal Chancellor Sebastian Kurz: “Lauda, ​​as Austria's second largest airline, would like to be included in all discussions in Austria about the aviation issues raised in this letter. We would be happy to support your government in other matters relating to air transport ”.